mixmatch/specs/template.rst

Example Specification

bp example

Introduction paragraph -- why are we doing anything? A single paragraph of prose that operators can understand.

Some notes about using this template:

• Your spec should be in ReSTructured text, like this template.
• Wrap text at 79 columns.
• The filename in the git repository should match the launchpad URL, for example a URL of: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/mixmatch/+spec/new-feature should be named new-feature.rst
• Do not delete any of the sections in this template. If you have nothing to say for a whole section, just write: None
• To test out your formatting, build the docs using tox, or see: http://rst.ninjs.org
• If you would like to provide a diagram with your spec, ascii diagrams are required. http://asciiflow.com/ is a very nice tool to assist with making ascii diagrams. The reason for this is that the tool used to review specs is based purely on plain text. Plain text will allow review to proceed without having to look at additional files which can not be viewed in gerrit. It will also allow inline feedback on the diagram itself.
• If your spec has an impact on the HTTP API, propose the corresponding changes to the api/ directory for review along with your spec and add the APIImpact flag to the commit message.

Problem Description

A detailed description of the problem:

• For a new feature, this might be use cases. Ensure you are clear about the actors in each use case: End User vs Deployer
• For a major reworking of part of the code, it would describe the problems in that feature that are being addressed.

This section should clearly communicate why it is desirable for the community to have a solution to the issue.

Proposed Change

Here is where you describe the change you propose to make. How do you propose to solve this problem? Address the issue at an architectural level, leaving the implementation details for code review.

If this is one part of a larger effort make it clear where this piece ends. In other words, what's the scope of this effort?

Alternatives

What other ways could we do this thing? Why aren't we using those? This doesn't have to be a full literature review, but it should demonstrate that thought has been put into why the proposed solution is an appropriate one.

Security Impact

Describe any potential security impact on the system. Some of the items to consider include:

• Does this change touch sensitive data such as tokens, keys, or user data?
• Does this change alter the API in a way that may impact security, such as a new way to access sensitive information or a new way to login?
• Does this change involve cryptography or hashing?
• Does this change require the use of sudo or any elevated privileges?
• Does this change involve using or parsing user-provided data? This could be directly at the API level or indirectly such as changes to a cache layer.
• Can this change enable a resource exhaustion attack, such as allowing a single API interaction to consume significant server resources? Some examples of this include launching subprocesses for each connection, or entity expansion attacks in XML.

For more detailed guidance, please see the OpenStack Security Guidelines as a reference (https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Security/Guidelines). These guidelines are a work in progress and are designed to help you identify security best practices. For further information, feel free to reach out to the OpenStack Security Group at openstack-security@lists.openstack.org.

Notifications Impact

Please specify any changes to notifications. Be that an extra notification, changes to an existing notification, or removing a notification.

Other End User Impact

Aside from the API, are there other ways a user will interact with this feature?

Performance Impact

Describe any potential performance impact on the system, for example how often will new code be called, and is there a major change to the calling pattern of existing code.

Examples of things to consider here include:

• A small change in a utility function or a commonly used decorator can have a large impacts on performance.
• Calls which result in a database queries can have a profound impact on performance when called in critical sections of the code.
• Will the change include any locking, and if so what considerations are there on holding the lock?

Other Deployer Impact

Discuss things that will affect how you deploy and configure OpenStack that have not already been mentioned, such as:

• What config options are being added? Should they be more generic than proposed (for example a flag that other hypervisor drivers might want to implement as well)? Are the default values ones which will work well in real deployments?
• Is this a change that takes immediate effect after its merged, or is it something that has to be explicitly enabled?
• If this change is a new binary, how would it be deployed?
• Please state anything that those doing continuous deployment, or those upgrading from the previous release, need to be aware of. Also describe any plans to deprecate configuration values or features. For example, if we change the directory name that instances are stored in, how do we handle instance directories created before the change landed? Do we move them? Do we have a special case in the code? Do we assume that the operator will recreate all the instances in their cloud?

Developer Impact

Discuss things that will affect other developers working on OpenStack, such as:

• If the blueprint proposes a change to the driver API, discussion of how other backends would implement the feature is required.

Implementation

Assignee(s)

Who is leading the writing of the code? Or is this a blueprint where you're throwing it out there to see who picks it up?

If more than one person is working on the implementation, please designate the primary author and contact.

Primary assignee:

<launchpad-id or None>

Other contributors:

<launchpad-id or None>

Work Items

Work items or tasks -- break the feature up into the things that need to be done to implement it. Those parts might end up being done by different people, but we're mostly trying to understand the timeline for implementation.

Dependencies

• Include specific references to specs and/or blueprints in mixmatch, or in other projects, that this one either depends on or is related to.
• If this requires functionality of another project that is not currently used by mixmatch (such as the glance v2 API when we previously only required v1), document that fact.
• Does this feature require any new library dependencies or code otherwise not included in OpenStack? Or does it depend on a specific version of library?

Documentation Impact

What is the impact on the docs team of this change? Some changes might require donating resources to the docs team to have the documentation updated. Don't repeat details discussed above, but please reference them here.

References

Please add any useful references here. You are not required to have any reference. Moreover, this specification should still make sense when your references are unavailable. Examples of what you could include are:

• Links to mailing list or IRC discussions
• Links to notes from a summit session
• Links to relevant research, if appropriate
• Related specifications as appropriate (e.g. if it's an EC2 thing, link the EC2 docs)
• Anything else you feel it is worthwhile to refer to